Senate
The senate is a political organ of MTC part of the Political System. The senate consists of a minimum of six members, called senators. Four members are elected every 3 months. One member is chosen by God every 3 months, on the same day as the election. The last members are all current and previous living theocrats. Since there is always at least one theocrat, this means the senate consists always of at least 6 members. Within the senate, the (previous) theocrats are often referred to as Senator of Life. The prime minister is allowed to know everything that happens in the senate, but is not allowed to speak there unless called forth by the senate speaker or a majority of the senate. Powers The senate has several powers. Title The MTC senate consists of at least six members, called senators. All those members have the right to carry the title of "Senator". Four members are chosen during elections, which happen once every 3 months. One member is appointed by God. The remaining senators are senators for life. This group consists of all former and current living theocrats. Laws Senators can propose and approve laws, legislature and policies. For a bill to pass, a majority of the voting senators need to approve. Abstaining senators are not counted to the total. This means if the senate votes 3Y/2N on a bill, it is approved, but if it votes 3Y/3N, it is not approved. All voting should be announced to all senators at least 24 hours prior to happening. An exception to this rule is if at least 5 senators are present and agree to vote earlier. All voting lasts a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 3 hours. This time is set before the voting by the senate speaker. An exception is if all senators have voted before the time is up or a clear winner can be called before all votes are in, whatever happens first. If this happens, the voting closes immediately. The prime minister is allowed to delay all voting on bills by a period of 1 week and may extend voting period by 3 hours. These prime minister actions may be overruled by God, if abuse or intentional hindering is suspected. MTC laws, legislature and policies can have a wide range of usages. They can regard punishments for certain actions, immigration of new members, re-immigration of former members, competitions, the MTC logo, official holidays etc. All passed policies must be publicly announced in all MTC networks by the prime minister. If he is not able to do so, the senate speaker is responsible for this. Any bills which require secrecy can be voted to be labeled as "secret bills". This means they do not have to be announced. For this the Senate needs an absolute majority vote and the prime minister needs to allow it. The secrecy vote takes place slightly before the bill voting takes place. Checks and Balances The senate is also able to fire individual ministers from their posts, with exception of the prime minister. For this they need an absolute majority vote. This means abstaining senators are counted to the total. So if there are 6 senators in total, at least 4 affirmative Aye votes are required to fire a minister, independent of the number of senators present during the voting. Individual senators cannot step down, die or be fired. They need to finish their 3 months term. As a result of this, the senate is a more serious position. This does not apply if the senate is dissolved. In that case quick-elections are being held within a 1 days notice. The newly elected senators will only serve part of a term. Elections There are four senate elections each year. These take place on the first day of January, April, July and October. Seven to four days before the election, people can nominate themselves for senator. This is with the exception of anybody running for prime minister. Four to one days before the election, all candidates are allowed to campaign. Campaigning before or after this period is prohibited and will be punished. On election day, the first of every second month of the year, all eligible members can cast a vote, with the exception of God. A vote consists of two points, which do not need to, but can be given to the same person. This means a voter can choose to spread his vote over two candidates or to have one more powerful vote to one candidate. The four candidates with the most votes are elected senator. In the case of a tie, the active president chooses the new senator(s) between the candidates in draw. This does not mean all candidates with more points than the tie are not elected senator. The senators are always elected from most points to least. For example if Candidate 1 (Shortened C1) has 6 points, C2 and C3 have 5 points each, C4 and C5 have 3 points each and C6 has 1 point, there are two ties. First the candidate with the most points is elected senator. The next highest candidate is within a tie. However, both candidates can still become senator within the limit of 4 elected senators, so no conflict here. Both are elected senators. The next highest candidate is again in a tie. There are already 3 chosen senators, so the prime minister may choose only one of them to become senator. At no point in time can the prime minister be a senator. This is strictly forbidden. However, it is explicitly not forbidden for any other appointed minister to be a senator simultaneously. Senate Speaker After each election, the senate chooses a speaker. The speaker is considered the prime senator and is responsible for counting the votes, organizing senate voting and communicating between the people, the president and God. The senate speaker is responsible for keeping debates organized. The senate speaker has to power to allow the prime minister to speak in the senate. If the speaker senator is not chosen within 2 days after the senate is elected, the God of MTC appoints one senator as speaker of the senate. Nominating All members of any MTC network are allowed to nominate themselves for senate, with the exception of anybody running for prime minister, the prime minister himself or God. Nominations can be done only 7 to 4 days before the election. It is done by sending a private written message to God. In this private message, one must state their full name, age, date of birth, current location and that they want to nominate themselves for senate. After this is done and a confirmation message is received, they are registered as nominee for the coming election. If no nomination is received within a reasonable amount of time, a new message should be send through another network. Alliances There are yet no alliances between senators, prime ministers or politically active members. List of Senators List of senators of the 2018 spring senate * Milo Grillo Category:Politics